Lately I've been indulging in an old friend. I was in my early 20's when Everwood came around the first time. I don't remember if I saw it all the way through when it was on the air, but it stayed with me for multiple reasons. When Chris Pratt showed up on Parks and Recreation and Emily VanCamp showed up on Revenge, I was reminded of this forgotten gem.
Everwood ran for four seasons on the CW/WB in the early 2000s and centered around the lives of the people in a small Colorado town. After the death of his wife, a world-renowned neurosurgeon uproots his family and leaves surgery behind to open a small family practice in Everwood. The next four seasons center around the lives of the doctor and his children and their lives as they settle in and learn to live in a new world. Recently I saw that the CW Seed app (and of course website) had the entire series available to watch. I've been searching for the series online for a while now and I wasn't quite obsessed enough to spend the money to buy the DVDs. I was close though. The resell value of that sort of thing is so small that I couldn't justify it. I started with Season 1 and as soon as the theme music came on I started remembering more than I thought I did. It's funny, I had loved this show so much…I shouldn't have been surprised to see Greg Berlanti's name plastered across it. Berlanti is responsible for a metric ton of my favorite TV shows over the last ten years. This includes all the current CW superhero shows (Arrow, Legends, Flash, Supergirl, and the upcoming Black Lightening) as well as my current favorite Riverdale. Not to mention Dawson's Creek, Brothers and Sisters, Eli Stone…the list goes on and on. The man knows how to write drama
As I write this I am finishing Season 3 and gearing up to start Season 4. From what I've seen so far it holds up relatively well. Sure, there's the occasional flip phone or pager. There are VHS tapes to be watched and rewound. Otherwise it's relatively the same as any other family drama. As I've been watching, I noticed that it's basically the premise for Hart of Dixie (which I also loved), but I don't even mind the repetition.
While I love watching a family grow closer and a town accepting of the new people little by little, I have been growing frustrated with the idea that everyone continually lies to each other in order to "protect" each other. It's difficult to watch people who love each other make the same kinds of mistakes over and over again. The characters are beautifully written and incredibly layered. Even the characters that would typically be one note shine with depth of thought and feeling. Even if it does take a while. The only trouble with the show is the same issues that you sometimes face with such a large cast. Sometimes you don't see someone who would be considered a main character for an episode or two in order to allow for storylines to evolve or resolve themselves. No one is ever forgotten for long and they eventually come back to the forefront. I have to say that I have not enjoyed Season 3 as much as the first two seasons. Season 1 gave us the world building. Season 2 gave us the aftermath of the death of a main character. Season 3 seems to have become the season of rebuilding. This unfortuantely has resulted in forbidden affairs and secret pregnancies. Both of which felt a bit cheap. Plus, the casting of Anne Heche as a guest star bugged me. I just don't care for her acting style. I've still got the finale of Season 3 and all of Season 4 to go and I'll update this post when I do. I do love shows that give me such a great sense of nostalgia. What should I watch after Everwood? After putting this piece in my queue, the cast had an emotional reunion. Here's a link for more. Long live Everwood! http://www.eonline.com/news/871006/everwood-cast-reunites-all-the-moments-that-made-us-and-them-cry
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